Pewter pictures and hallmarks...

[DerekP Houston]

HA! see persistence does pay off in the end, great score.

[imashooter2]

You'd have paid more than $5.50 a pound in the S&S. Welcome to the club!

[500MAG]

Still, I'm envious of the rest of that "find". I'd be in hog heaven with a find like that.

It has to be the location. The people in South Florida don't really care to much for pewter. However, we have a home in NC and when I go thrifting up there I rarely come across anything pewter and if I do it's priced as a "collector" piece.

[Chris C]

Where do I go to get a chemical acid testing kit for pewter..........or how can I make one myself?

[imashooter2]

Never heard of such a test for pewter. The only acid test I'm aware of is for zinc.

[Chris C]

Oh, thought there was. Is muratic acid the one that's used for zinc? Is there one for lead?

[imashooter2]

Muriatic (hydrochloric) acid will bubble actively on zinc, but not lead. It will react with tin as well, but the cold reaction is weak.

[Chris C]

Okay, thanks.

[Chris C]

Just won another "eviel-bay" pewter auction. We'll see if I got screwed this time.

[DerekP Houston]

Just won another "eviel-bay" pewter auction. We'll see if I got screwed this time.

Dang man! you are joining the hoarding club nicely. Hope you have better results with this batch.

[Chris C]

Thanks, Derek..................meeeeeeeetoooooo!

[Chris C]

Okay, I finally made a fair deal on Ebay. 2 pounds, real pewter.......zinn etaine pur.





Top is solid......and weighs 9.75 oz. Melted the tip and the bottom edge to verify. This stuff is pure tin.

$14.75 delivered.

[6622729]

Buy it in ingot form for about $10 a pound delivered also on eBay. My pewter is 96% and was in muffin tin form for $9.90 a pound. That seller is out now. There are a number of reliable people selling tin and pewter already smelted. Pewter is not pure tin by the way. It can be as low as 92%.

I have bought from this guy for example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TIN-INGOTS-B...UAAOSw2XFUbTPd

I buy from this guy:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/30-lbs-Lead-...0AAOxyDZxRIrfY

[Chris C]

But it does as well as pure when it comes to reducing surface tension on lead when casting.

And the first link you showed worked out to $11.49/# plus shipping.

As far as lead goes, I get that for free. (well free except for the cost of gas and my time........which isn't worth all that much)

[DerekP Houston]

meh, let him have the fun of the hunt looks like he got a good score that time! Ebay vendors aren't exactly known for being honest, so if he wants to spend his time hunting the real thing more power to him. I'd rather pay a tad more and get it from a vendor here as they pay to provide us a service and I appreciate it. Ebay usually kills me on shipping costs as well, but sometimes you find a good deal and can't pass it up.

92% vs 96% doesn't make that big a difference when you are talking about that being all of 1% of the final melt.

[KenH]

I was asked to put these pewter marks on this thread. This is from a plate my wife found, very rough condition, open pores in metal at places. Pure scrap - just what we're looking for in price..... $3 for 2lb 3.5 oz so I was happy. Just couldn't be sure it was pewter. The plate is about 12.5" diameter with a scroll around edge. This are the marks:



The crests I've not been able to find, but am told it's an Italian firm Cosi Tabellini. The crests do not match anything from that firm I've found, except the one that doesn't have the Cosi Tabellini encircling the crest. The "95" in a sq makes me think it's perhaps silverplate on pewter, which I understand is normally marked EPBM or Electro Plated Britannia Metal. BUT - Cosi Tabellini did mark their pewter with a "95" to indicate the amount of tin in alloy.

These are the Cosi Tabellini crests I've found, and Wilco posted in my thread.

and

Based on the idea this is old scrap silverplate, and should be of no historical value I cut a strip out, melted and cast a bullet. Weight 199 grains. I melted a known pewter and cast a bullet in same mold. Melting temp seems to be about same, and the pewter bullet was 201 grains.

Based on the cast bullet weights and melting temperature being that close, I "assume" it's pewter? The cast bullets look EXACTLY the same.

Ken H>

[jsizemore]

I have a couple pieces of Italian fake pewter with "pelatro" and tin percentage cast into the piece that's made to deceive. Your bowl looks to have the "real" touchmark. Thanks for sharing your find and adding to the sticky.

[Chris C]

Picked up a couple more Pewter sales on Evilbay over the weekend. I'm pretty much satisfied with the amount I have so will probably stop buying for a while unless I see a real "steal". At this point, my average delivered price is $9.29/lb.............I know that's high but it's only because I bought 4 one pound pure Tin bars at $15/ea. Won't be doing that in the future, I don't think.

[DerekP Houston]

Picked up a couple more Pewter sales on Evilbay over the weekend. I'm pretty much satisfied with the amount I have so will probably stop buying for a while unless I see a real "steal". At this point, my average delivered price is $9.29/lb.............I know that's high but it's only because I bought 4 one pound pure Tin bars at $15/ea. Won't be doing that in the future, I don't think.

Yeah but think of all the fun you had hunting and pecking for a deal . You broke even with the average sale price here on castboolits, I think you did alright. Ain't always about the end results sometimes it is just the journey.

[Chris C]

Well, if I hadn't bought the 4 $15/lb bars my average would be well below the average on CastBoolits. I'm pretty happy with my results...............and as I mentioned, I'm through buying for a while.